This one went pretty fast, except I ended up surprised by the one that needed a hint.
Archive for February 28, 2007
Hint Added for Tuesday Trivia
Just one.
C’mon guys, this one’s easy.
ConVocation Wrap-up
So, I attended ConVocation on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan last week. And seriously, the stuff they say about February and Detroit? Turns out to be true.
But this was an exceptionally, even shockingly, well-organized event. How they managed to have a hotel accomodate three rituals and a masquerade dance party simultaneously on a Saturday night is beyond me.
I mean, these people are so organized that the event info for ‘007 is already replaced on the website with planning info for ’08. I’ve been to festivals that still have their 2005 pages up!
The guests of honor were impressive, including Chris Penczak, Gus DiZerega, and T. Thorn Coyle. Lots of good teaching and ritual happened. And by the way, majorly comfy hotel room. Yummy mattress. Many fluffy pillows. La.
My classes went extremely well, and I sold a lot of books. Not as many as I would have had I brought more…I really wasn’t anticipating the enthusiasm. These are focused, interested people. I taught four classes (which is a lot): The Way of Four, Who Are the Gardnerians and Why Are They Naked?, Demeter, Persephone, and Hades, and The Nature of Deity.
I have to say I got pretty homesick, which is unusual for me. But that’s not the fault of the event. I got home tired but successful and more or less collapsed. Ate Chinese takeout Monday night and plain pasta last night, just no kitchen energy. But I feel better today.
Thank you, loyal blog readers, for putting up with my low output. I’m going to have more to say about this event soon.
Tuesday Trivia 2/27
There’s an Oscar-related theme here. See if you can guess it. (Theme solved by George, comment #7.)
1. An upside-down kiss in the rain.
Solved by Daven (comment #1).
2. A fully-clothed embrace in the shower.
HINT: The two people in this scene were both presenters at this year’s Oscars, but not together.
Solved by Roberta (comment #17) and George (comment #18).
3. Dropping a dead cockroach in the middle of a perfectly-made bed.
Solved by Daven (comment #1).
4. After a traumatic event, cutting off a bunch of her own hair in the mirror.
Solved by Roberta (comment #8).
5. On the phone, she explains the circumstances of her husband’s death as being accidental, but the person on the other end doesn’t believe her.
Solved by Evn (comment #15).
6. On a dream vacation, she assists the famous chef in creating a New Year’s Eve dinner.
Solved by TehipiteTom (comment #3).
7. He explains the “Royale with Cheese.”
Solved by TehipiteTom (comment #2).
Post-Oscar thoughts
Here are my random impressions. Keep in mind that I flew in from Detroit last night, just minutes ahead of being stranded by ice storms, and watched the awards about a half-hour behind (bless you, TiVo), then went to bed. I haven’t written any Monday Movie Review this week, and I haven’t written up the event report for the event I just returned from. I also haven’t unpacked or done laundry. I mean, I am just not prepared to face a new week.
Anyway, yay The Departed and yay Marty. Best Picture and Best Director, yay yay yay. Rah cheer for Daniel Craig and Eva Green each giving an award, and how much do I love Al Gore? That much.
Scary dress category: Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Ann Hathaway (ick!). Most improved attire: Helen Mirren and Gwyneth Paltrow, both bouncing back from past disasters to prove that nipples are wonderful at any age.
Big surprises: Melissa Ethridge, looking great, rocking her song, and winning. Alan Arkin winning, and Ellen DeGeneres boring my face off. She had nothing.
I liked the weird dancer people.
Arthur was pissed that the Happy Feet guy didn’t thank Savion Glover.
So: Discuss.
Best Billboard Ever
This is a billboard for a New Zealand pizza chain called Hell Pizza. Alas, some people complained, and the New Zealand Advertising Standards Complaint Board upheld the complaints.
Oh well.
On the plus side:
The board ruled the choice of words was irresponsible, but the association with Mr Bush did not cause serious or widespread offence.
So it was the language that was inappropriate, not the slam at Bush. Sounds reasonable to me.
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
Friday Rubble Blogging
This is some rubble we saw in Kotor, Montenegro in 1988.
Friday Slurm Blogging
Jody is feeding it on a more or less 24-hour schedule right now–enough to keep it reasonably active, but not the full schedule necessary for bread readiness. When Jody wants to make bread, she’ll feed it about every 8 hours or so for a day beforehand.
Love —> Buildings on Fire
Not really fire; just sunset reflected in the windows of Lone Mountain campus, USF.
Tolerance: Inappropriate in Fort Wayne
Here’s a story of basic human decency in darkest Indiana:
Sophomore Megan Chase wrote an opinion piece – her first for the [school] newspaper – that appeared in the Jan. 19 issue of the Woodlan Tomahawk that questioned people who believe it’s wrong to be gay or lesbian. Chase said she wrote the piece after a friend disclosed to her he was gay.
“I can only imagine how hard it would be to come out as homosexual in today’s society,” Chase wrote. “I think it is so wrong to look down on those people, or to make fun of them, just because they have a different sexuality than you. There is nothing wrong with them or their brain; they’re just different than you.”
…and of the efforts of school officials to crush it:
A student editorial in the Woodlan Junior-Senior High School newspaper calling for more tolerance for gays and lesbians sparked the principal to seek approval of each edition before it goes to print and issue a written warning against the journalism teacher….
Principal Edwin Yoder wrote a letter to the newspaper staff and journalism teacher Amy Sorrell insisting he sign off on every issue. Sorrell and the students contacted the Student Press Law Center, an advocacy group for student newspapers, which advised them to appeal the decision.
Last week, Yoder issued Sorrell a written warning for insubordination and not carrying out her responsibilities as a teacher. He accused her of exposing Woodlan students, who are in grades seven through 12, to inappropriate material and said if she did not comply with his orders she could be fired.
Inappropriate material. Advance Indiana has the full text of the editorial (scroll down). Go read it and see if you can tell any better than I can what the ‘inappropriate’ part is. The part where she says homosexuality is not a disease? Where she says it’s unfair for religion to condemn people to hell for something that isn’t a choice? Where she says being homosexual doesn’t make a person inhuman?
The journalism teacher and students are fighting it, with help from the Student Press Law Center. Meanwhile, the Fort Wayne Community School District “encourages [us] to comment or ask questions”, so if you have any comments or questions be sure to drop them a line.
(Hat tip: Shakespeare’s Sister.)
[Cross-posted at If I Ran the Zoo]
